Important Facts For Prelims
Biodiversity Park in Uttarakhand
- 09 Jun 2020
- 2 min read
Why in News
Uttrakhand opened its biggest biodiversity park in Haldwani on the World Environment Day (5th June).
- Biodiversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity Parks are basically natural reserves with varieties of plants and animals.
- The theme of this year's World Environment Day is ‘Celebrate Biodiversity’
Key Points
- Inside the Park, there are thematic gardens, a soil museum, species of plants, lichens, mosses and algae from the Jurassic era, a vermicompost unit, an interpretation centre, and a state-of-the-art weather station.
- The Park has 40 unique sections having 479 rare plant species of cactus, medicinal herbs, different types of trees, etc.
- The various species of plants have been brought to the park from diverse terrains like Niti Mana Valley and even from some glaciers around Kedarnath.
- Niti Mana Valley is located near the India Tibetan Border in Chamoli district of Uttarakhand.
- The plant species in the biodiversity park is divided into spiritual & religious, scientific, human health, and aesthetic value sections.
- The spiritual section has trees that find mention in holy scriptures like Guru Granth Sahib, Quran, Bible, and others.
- It showcases the different kinds of soil found in various topographies of Uttarakhand — alpine, bhabhar, sub-mountainous, mountainous, tertiary, loam, terai.
- Various environmental concepts and conservation issues including global warming, forest rivers, species extinction, internal communication of plants and recent developments like spread of virus from animals to human beings are explained at the interpretation centre inside the park.
